Galettes Bretonnes | French Butter Biscuits

Galettes Bretonnes are sweet and salty golden butter biscuits from Brittany, France. You should bake a batch to know how irresistible these are by looks and taste! I bet, no one can eat just one galette bretonne biscuit.

I am sharing my love for Galettes Bretonnes - no, not the savoury stuffed crepes that google will throw when you search but the popular French Salted Butter Sablés from Brittany!

What are Galettes Bretonnes Biscuits?

Galettes Bretonnes is French, which translates to Breton Pancakes. We are familiar with "galette" as the rustic pie, but the salted biscuits or cookies are also called Galettes Bretonnes or Salted Butter Sablés (where Sablés translates to"shortbread").

A popular biscuit that is served across Brittany in France is a local favourite for anyone who has travelled or has access to supermarkets with French goods.

A Taste of Brittany in Every Bite

These French butter biscuits are easily made with fancy European salted butter, regular sugar, egg yolk, a good vanilla paste and plain flour. Other than the fancy butter, the rest of the ingredients are the usual pantry stuff. You must bake these and my chewy chocolate chip cookies with lots of love and gift your loved ones during the holiday season! 🙂

How I Discovered Galettes Bretonnes

The first time I saw Galettes Bretonnes was on Linda's Instagram page. Unlike my million other must-try "saves" and "Pins", I had my eye on this one and wanted to bake a batch immediately. Linda was super kind to share the salted butter biscuits recipe with measurements via dm. I didn’t even own a cookie-cutter at the time! 🙈 But I still gave it a go — that’s how tempting they were.

I quickly googled to find out more about the biscuits or is this cookie? 

My First Batch

I made a batch in my "baking-biscuits-challenged" kitchen and almost hated myself for not sticking to the recipe. I was a mess, the kitchen counter was a mess, but the biscuits made it to the oven perfectly shaped. That was half a battle won!

For the next 15 minutes, I was doing the dishes while getting heady with vanilla aroma permeating my home. The perfectly shaped biscuits are baked into shining golden goodies! If well thought through, this is super easy to make, but make sure to use the best quality ingredients for the real taste! 

Why should you make this?

These salted biscuits are so easily addictive that you just cannot stop with one. We devoured the entire batch in the next few days. Without any delay, I placed an order on Amazon for the scalloped cookie cutter to make another pretty batch of Galettes Bretonnes for my brother and family. 

👩‍🍳 Tips for Baking Galettes Bretonnes

If this is your first time baking Galettes Bretonnes, let me save you some trouble (and arm cramps!). Here are some real-life baking lessons from my own kitchen trials!

💡 Use an Electric Whisk — Save Your Arms!

Issue: I started with a hand whisk to cream the softened butter and sugar. Bad idea. The mixture kept clumping inside the wires, and I nearly lost my cool.
Tip: Switch to a handheld electric whisk — it’ll make your life so much easier. Creaming butter and sugar should feel like baking, not a workout!

🧊 Roll, Then Chill

Issue: I chilled the dough first, rolled it out on a floured surface, and used a tumbler to cut shapes. Picking them up without warping the shape? Nightmare.  
Tip: I then Googled "how to roll cookie dough" and found Sally's method of rolling and then chilling. Roll the dough between parchment (or a zip-lock bag) and then chill. The dough firms up flat, and the cut-outs transfer easily without fuss. Genius, right?

bonus tip: I didn't have silicone sheets nor did I want to spend my baking paper! So used my wooden cutting board and baking paper or zip lock bag on top to roll the dough.

🍪 Bake Once, Regret Never

So once you have sorted your method to accomplish the rolling, chilling and cutting, Galettes Bretonnes are a breeze to make. You can easily double the recipe, but don't halve this further, else you will regret it! 🙂 

The second time around, I baked a whole batch of 30 cookies without breaking a sweat! I packed half a dozen each for Rafeeda and Faiza, one dozen for my munchkins and a few leftovers that F and I relished! Yes, going to Sharjah means meeting my blogger friends over a cup of chai! 

🛒Grab These Ingredients

 As the list is simple and short, it is better to use high-quality ingredients.

1. Butter: Traditionally beurre salé (salted butter, with sea salt flakes) is used to make these biscuits. You may be lucky to find them in supermarkets like Carrefour or Spinneys but I had Sel de Mer (coarse sea salt) with me, so crushed some in a mortar and used it. 
2. Sugar: I have used fine-grain white granulated sugar. You may use vanilla sugar if you have that, and if you don't have a vanilla bean. 
3. Vanilla: I have used the paste of one vanilla bean. Try not to use too much vanilla extract liquid as it alters the dough consistency. If you used vanilla sugar, then a dash of extract would be more than enough. If you don't have access to pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste or bean, then use the artificial essence as the last resort. 
4. Salt: If you can't find beurre salé or fleur de sel or sel de mer, then skip and use regular salted butter with a pinch of salt.
5. Egg yolk: Use a large egg's yolk. You need 2 for this recipe. One for the dough and one for coating.
6. Flour: You need plain flour, aka maida or all-purpose flour.

If your kitchen is well equipped with baking essentials then you can bake Galettes Bretonnes even more easily than me. I have tried to capture how I made these in my kitchen through images and video, so hope it helps you to make your first batch easier! 

Please scroll to the Recipe Card for the detailed recipe with measurements.

🥣How to make (quick notes) 

1. Prepare the biscuit dough and chill for 15 minutes
2. Roll the dough and chill for 15 minutes (repeat with remaining dough)
3. Cut out the biscuits in the desired shape (repeat with the remaining dough)
4. Coat each cookie with egg yolk and chill for a few minutes, and repeat one more time (15 mins)
5. Draw lines with a fork on each biscuit and bake the batch for 15 minutes

🥣Steps to Make Galettes Bretonnes

Use an electric whisk and cream the softened butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add the egg yolk and whisk again until combined.

Stir in the flour to a crumbly texture.

Use your fingers and bring them together to form a soft dough. Do not over-knead. 

Flatten to a disc shape and cling wrap the dough. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Start to roll the dough evenly to a thickness of ¼ inch between baking paper or slicion sheets.

Refrigerate the rolled-out dough for 15 minutes.

Use a cookie cutter and cut as many as you can. Transfer them to a lined baking tray. (watch the video)

Brush the top with whisked egg yolk and let it dry for a few minutes, and repeat one more time. Chill until the yolk coat is dried or for about 10 to 15 minutes meanwhile preheat the oven to 180℃. 

Use a fork to draw a line pattern over each cookie. Bake in the middle rack of the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time. 

Remove from the oven and let it cool in the tray itself. Store in an airtight tin container and serve Galettes Bretonnes with tea or coffee.

❄️Storage

These biscuits keep well at room temperature in an airtight container or cookie tin for 2 weeks or more. I have never tried freezing these. If you did, do let us know in the comments.

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📖 Recipe Card

Galettes Bretonnes | French Butter Biscuits

Learn how to bake the small batch of sweet and salty French butter biscuits called Galettes Bretonnes with a few basic ingredients from your pantry.

5 from 6 votes

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Prep Time: 1 hour hour

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 cookies

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Famidha Ashraf

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Ingredients

 

½x1x2x3x

• ▢ 90 grams salted butter , softened to room temperature (add 2 grams of salt if using unsalted butter)
• ▢ 60 grams fine granulated sugar, (approx ¼ cup)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract , or pulp one vanilla bean
• ▢ 1 large egg's yolk
• ▢ 150 grams all-purpose flour, (approx 1 cup)
• ▢ 1 large egg's yolk , for brushing

Instructions

Prepare the biscuit dough

• Add the softened butter, sugar, vanilla and salt to a large bowl and use an electric whisk to cream the mixture. Add the egg yolk and whisk again until combined.
• Stir in the flour until no dry flour is visible and resembles a crumbly texture. Use your fingers and bring them together to form a soft dough. Do not over knead.
• Flatten to a disc shape and cling wrap the dough. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

Roll the dough and chill

• Lightly dust the wooden plank with some flour, place the dough and keep a baking paper or ziplock bag over the dough.
• Start to roll the dough evenly to a thickness of ¼ inch. Refrigerate the rolled-out dough for 15 minutes along with the plank. You may roll between two silicone sheets and refrigerate the whole thing.

Cut out the biscuits in the desired shape

• Take out the chilled rolled out dough and remove the baking paper or ziplock-bag off the dough.
• Use a cookie cutter and cut as many as you can. Remove the cut-out biscuits carefully using an offset spatula or butter knife to slide underneath and transfer them to a lined baking tray. (watch the video)
• Bring together the remaining left-out dough and roll again, chill again, and cut into shapes again. Repeat until all of the dough is used. You may have to keep the cutout cookie/biscuits refrigerated until you have a batch ready to bake.

Coat with egg yolk and chill

• Brush the top of each biscuit with whisked egg yolk and let it dry for a few minutes before coating a second time.
• Chill until the yolk coat is dried or for about 10 to 15 minutes meanwhile preheat the oven to 180℃

Bake the batch of Galettes Bretonnes

• Use a fork to draw a line pattern over each cookie.
• Place the tray of biscuits in the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the baking sheet halfway through bake time.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool in the tray itself. Store in an airtight tin container and serve Galettes Bretonnes with tea or coffee.

Video

Nutrition Info

Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 9g

Course: Snack

Cuisine: French

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